Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Court Advocates' Report On Recent Cases & Convictions

We heard from one of the 19th District Court Advocates Tuesday:

"Hello! We had a few cases close recently. Your readers may want to know what's been going on.

Marcus Dixon. This guy wins my WTF Award. He's from Joliet. In Feb. 2014, he took the el to Wilson. He got off the train and stood in the station vestibule on the south side of Wilson. He took out a gun and fired three times. Toward the ground! Not at anyone. Then he got into his 'getaway car' a/k/a the Broadway bus. He left the scene but I wouldn't call it 'sped away'. Alert citizens called 9-1-1 and the cops pulled the bus over. He was just sitting there with a loaded gun stashed under the passenger seat. He was arrested. Mr. Dixon was found guilty of Possession and Use of a Firearm by a felon and received a three and a half year sentence. He's got to serve at least half of that, then two years probation. I still don't have any idea why he did this. [Original UU coverage is here.]

Christopher Crockrom. This case was settled Tuesday from an incident that happened in December 2012. The police pulled over a van at Kenmore and Leland. Instead of stopping, the van took off. The first police car was joined by others on a chase through Uptown. During the chase, a loaded gun was thrown from the passenger window of the van. It bounced off the first police car chasing it. Another police vehicle stopped and recovered the weapon. The first car continued the chase. After a bench trial, Mr. Crockrom was found guilty of being the person who threw the gun out the window. I think the charge was Armed Habitual Criminal. His four previous drug felonies upped his sentencing range to 6-60 years. Judge Sharon Sullivan gave him a sentence of eight years based on his previous crimes not being violent. He must serve at least 85% of his sentence.

Loriana Johnson. This is a very sad case with three defendants. The other two are still on trial. In 2012, salon owner Yolanda Holmes was murdered inside her Wilson Yard apartment. In 2013, her only child, Qawmane Wilson, was charged with arranging her murder, allegedly for money to further his career as a rap artist. Eugene Spencer was charged with committing the actual murder. Loriana Johnson was charged with being the getaway driver. She had 28 charges against her. She said she thought she was driving Spencer to a robbery, not a murder. She received a sentence of 14 years for Armed Robbery. She must serve at least half of that. In her IDOC profile, it lists her tattoos, and she has one that says "Qamane" - it will be very interesting to see if Ms. Johnson testifies against him and/or Spencer as their cases continue. [Original UU coverage is here.]